Chickpea & Chicken Salad Recipe

No more boring chicken salad! Notch up chicken salad with chickpeas, olives and Indian-style spices in a yogurt dressing. Hearty and delicious, this is definitely a 'savory' chicken salad.

The new food pyramid unveiled last spring by the U.S. Department of Agriculture offers, well, modest improvement. It does include daily exercise and emphasizes vegetables by separating them from fruit.

But MyPyramid.gov (2014 update, now ChooseMyPlate) is filled with useful tips about food choices and portion sizes.

Dried beans crop up twice, first with vegetables and then as a protein source under ‘meat and dried beans’.

Beans are a great meat extender, especially if your aim is to limit cholesterol and increase fiber.

Me, I’m happy to have an unusual mélange of flavors and textures that makes up easily, 'tastes' good to me and is good for 'me'.

ALANNA's TIPS For cooked chicken, use leftover grilled chicken breasts, leftover Fast Roast Chicken or my favorite, a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. A whole rotisserie chicken usually yields exactly three cups of cooked chicken. If the yogurt is a little wet, drain it in a strainer first. When the entrée is virtuous, tempt you and your family with a dessert of what the USDA calls ‘discretionary calories’!

CHICKPEA & CHICKEN SALAD

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: about 2 hours
Makes 6 cups

15 ounces canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 cup (246g) non-fat yogurt

Zest & juice of a lemon or a lime

1 teaspoon caraway seed or ground caraway

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

1 cup (132g) good olives, pitted and halved

3 cups (145g) cooked chicken, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

Rinse chickpeas in running water and drain in colander. While chickpeas drain, mix all ingredients except chicken in large bowl. Add chicken and chickpeas and combine well. Taste, then season as needed with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 90 minutes for flavors to meld.

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna